Ankara announces construction of new camp for Syrian refugees
UN says number of asylum seekers almost tripled to 112,000 since April; nearly 40,000 have fled to Turkey since the start of the civil war
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ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkey says it will build a new refugee camp for Syrian refugees that could accommodate 10,000 people, as hundreds more people fled the country.
The state-run Anadolu agency said 525 people crossed the border into Turkey late Monday, including a general and four colonels.
Turkey’s government-run crisis management center said late Monday that a new camp is being set up near the town of Karkamis, in Gaziantep province which borders Syria. The camp will have a capacity to accommodate 10,000 people.
Nearly 40,000 refugees are currently being sheltered in 10 camps near Turkey’s 566-mile (911-kilometer) border with Syria.
The United Nations announced Tuesday that the number of Syrian refugees who have sought help from it since April has almost tripled to 112,000.
The U.N. refugee agency says women and children make up three-quarters of the Syrians who it has registered or assisted in Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey.
Agency spokesman Adrian Edwards said that the actual number is probably “significantly higher” and that many Syrian refugees are completely dependent on humanitarian aid.
Edwards said at least 40,000 Syrians have sought refuge in Turkey. Jordan has seen 33,400 refugees, while 30,900 have arrived in Lebanon. Another 7,900 have sought sanctuary in Iraq.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.
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